Feed mechanism for strands.



A. R. WIENS.

FEED MECHANISM POR STRANDS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 5, 1912.

Patented Jan. 20, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A. R. WIENS.

FEED MBOHANISM FOR STRANDS.

APPLIUATION FILED JUNE 5. 1912.

@MOM/W A. R. WIENS.

FEED MBGHANISM POR STRANDS. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 6, 1912.

1,084,778.. l Patented Jan. 20, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

l v i y L /f/. iff/3' f @y ADOLPH R. WIENS, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

FEED MECHANISM FOR STRANDS.

Specication of Letters Patent. I

Application led June 5, 1912.

Patented Jan. 20, 1914.

Serial No. 701,808.

To all 'whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, ADoLPH R. WIENs, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of lVisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feed Mechanisms for Strands; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof. V

The primary object of my invention is to rovide simple, positive and accurate means or feeding' a predetermined number of strands of uniform length from a hopper to a position in alinement with a .forming plunger, the strands being of any grade from the coarsest to the finest, their composition being metallic or fibrous.

Other objects of my invention are to provide means .for centering the strands relative to length under the plunger incidental to said strands being formed or bent by the plunger; to provide means for agitatiing the strands whereby they are straightened out longitudinally in a single layer preparato-ry to being selected into predetermined desired groups for delivery to a receiver that is v alined with the plunger; to pro-vide an automatically actuated disappearing stop-pin or pins for holding and releasing the layer of strands incidental to a feeding operation; to provide a picker that operates in timed relation with the stop-pins whereby the Selected group of strands is positively delivered to a receiver preparatory to their being engaged by the forming plunger; to provide a delivery throat for the strands that communicates with a hopper the throat being adjustable as to gage, whereby single strands of different cross-sectional area may be admitted thereto after a predetermined set of the throat-opening; to provide a forming sleeve for the strands through which the plunger is adapted 'to reciprocate.

With the above and other objects in View the invention consists in certain peculiarities of construction and combination of parts as set forth hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings and subsequently claimed. l

In the drawings Figure 1 represents a longitudinal sectional view of a feed mechanism embodying the features of my invention, the section being indicated by line 1--1 of Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a lan View of the same partlyin section as indicated by line 2"-2 of Fig. 1, other parts being broken away and in section below the plane' of the indicated section to more clearly show certain structural features; Fig. 3,'an enlarged detail sectional view showing the feed mechanism in the position it assumes in separating a layer of strands preparatory to the same being positively fed to the lunger; Fig. 4, a similar view illustrating tllie position that the picker and stop-pins assume when they are alined relative to the working or feed stroke of the picker; Fig. 5 illustrates the position of the stop-pins relative to the rearward or idle stroke of the picker; Fig. 6, a detail cross-section of the feed mechanism, the section being indicated by line 6-6 of Fig. 5, and Fig. 7, a diagram view of a camcontrolled mechanism for longitudinally centering the'strands with respect to the plunger. l

Referring by characters to the drawings l represents a portion of a frame to which is secured a bed-plate 2, which bed-plate carries a forked throat-plate 3, the forked members of which throat-plate are provided with strand-receiving recesses 4. Secured to the upper face of the throat-plate 3 is a forked roof-plate 5, which, in conjunction with the throat-plate 3 forms a throat recess that communicates with the receiver 4, the throat being of an approximate width that is equal to the diameter of the largest strand that is to be o erated upon. The throat-recess is preferab y disposed upon an angle whereby strands may be delivered thereto by gravity, the roof and throat-plate being forked for the purpose of forming a mouth through which forming mechanism is arranged to travel. The roof-plate has a vertically extended wall 6 that forms one face of a hopper 7, the rear wall 6 of which hopper extends upwardly from the throat-I plate 3. The end-walls of the hopper are formed by wings 8 that are slightly spaced from the side edges of the front and rear walls of the hopper as best shown in Fig. 2, the said Wings being adjustably secured to a squared rod 9, which rod is journaled in bearing-brackets 1() that extend from the frame l, the rod being reciprocatively mounted in said bearings. One end of the rod 9 carries a Spanner 1l which is engaged by a stud 'l2 that projects from one end of a lever 13, the lever being fulcrumed to an ear 14 with which the frame is provided. The opposite end of the lever carries a pin 15, which pin engages a cam groove 16 that llO of a gear-wheel 17, the same being loosel mounted upon a stud 18 that also exten `'om the frame l.

Revolubly mounted upon the stud and secured to the ear-wheel 17 is a driving sprocket 19 an a drivenv mueller sprocket 20, the driving sprocket being arranged to receive power from a shaft through a linkbelt, which mechanism forms no part of my invention and is therefore lnot shown.

is formed in the hub -Mounted in suitable journalsfthat extend from the brackets is a shaft 21, which shaft is driven by an lendless chain-belt 22 that connects the sprocket-wheel 20 with a similar` sprocket-wheel 20- `that is secured to the shaft 21. rlhe shaft 21 also carries a vibrating wheel 23 that is partially toothed about its circumference as best shown in Fig. 1, said vibrating wheel being. alined centrally of the throat crumed upon a pin between ears that extend from the lower'face of the throat-plate 3. These ears as shown,` form part of a bracket 24 that is rigidly secured to the lower face of the throat-plate, which bracket rface of strands which are passing through the throat will be slightly agitated so as to cause said strands to straighten out longitudinally as they travel through the throat and be alined side by side in a parallel layer.

Secured to the lower face of the bed-plate 2 is a-'block 26 which is slotted for the reception of a retainingbolt 27 whereby the block is held, said block being adjusted longitudinally by a thumb-screw 28 that is in threaded connection therewith, the thumbscrew being loosely journaled in an ear that depends from the bed-plate. 'lhe forward end of the block has fulcrumed thereto Ia yoke 28, the front end of which carriesa palr 401E stop-pins 29, which stop-pins are adapted to move in and out of the-line of the throat members off the throat-plate 3 and roof` plate 5. The stop-pins are normally held across the throat by means of a coiled spring 30, which is interposed between the block 26 and tail-piece 31 of the yoke. lt will be observed that' owing to the fact that the yoke which carries. the stop-pins 29 is mounted upon the block,said stop pins can be adjusted longitudinally of the throat by means of the adjusting thumb-screw 28.

nomma t Hence .the

and arranged to actuate' 'a tappet-shoe 23', which tappet-shoe is :tul-

osition "of the stopwith relation ,to vt e length of the oat can be changed" whereby a greater or less number of strands can be fed during each operation, this adjustment of the feed being more fully described hereinafter.

Suitably journaled in the frame 1 is a countershaft 32, which counter shaft is driven by a gear-wheel 33 that-is mounted upon said shaft .and arranged tomesh with the gear-wheel 17 previously` mentioned. The counter-shaft carries an eccentric 34 upon which is mounted a strap 35 that has projecting therefrom a inger, 36, the end of the finger being provided with a slot 36.' 'lhe ngeris also provided with an intermediate guide-block 37, which guide-block is trunnoned in ears 38 that extend upwardly from the bed-plate 2. Hence it will be seen that when the counter-shaft is in motion the finger connections will cause the latter to reciprocate inapproximate alinement with the throat and at the same time the end of said finger will oscillate vertically, .the oscillation being sharply defined at the end of the reciprocative stroke due to the eccentric action imparted thereto co-acting with the sliding play of theinger through the trunnion block 37. The extreme end of the fnf ger is provided with a depending picker 39,

whichl picker is arranged to enter the throat from the top and travel downwardly and thereafter recede from said throat and move upwardly to the position indicated in Fig. l,

in which position the fngerlhas reached the extreme end of its idle forward reciprocative stroke.

Secured to the lower end of a vertically reciprocative bar 40 is a forming sleeve 41, which sleeve is centrally alined relative to the feed'throat vbeing ositioned between the forked ends ofthe t roat-plate and roofplate as best shown in Fig. l. As indicated diagrammatically the vreciprocative sleevecarrying bar is inlink connection with -a crank 42 that extends from a driven shaft 43 whereby vertical movement of kthe sleeve is had. 'lhls crank-shaft and connection forms no part of my invention andis therefore simply shown diagrammatically to show means for reciprocating the forming sleeve. Y v

Alined with the forming sleeve and adapted to co-act therewith is a forming plunger 44, which forming plunger is reciprocated in a similar manner to the sleeve but is arranged to have greater throw than the latter, the said plunger being, as shown diagrammatically, in link connection with a second crank 42 of the shaft 43, this crank being of greater throw than the sleeve-operating cranki. whereby the forming plunger is arranged to travel downwardly and through-the forming sleeve., the said forming plunger being provided with a crotched bunch of strands may be .positively fed to the receiver.

In order to adjust the width of the throat which is formed between'the roof-plate `and throat-plate 5, 3, respectively, whereby said throat is gaged for maximum and minimum diameter strands, -I provide a pair of shoes 46, which shoes are in vdove-tailed engagementwith recesses that are formed in the opposite side-walls of the roof-plate forks, the

' said shoes being held in this instance by set- Iso screws 46 as best 'illustrated in Fig. 2. The lower faces ofthe shoes serve 'to regulate the width of the throat passage whereby the de-` sired gage of strand may pass therethrou h, it being understood that said shoes maygbe interchangeable with similar shoes varying in dimensions whereby the throat passage is more or less restricted or that a single set of shoes may be utilized for this purpose and adjusted to provide the necessary width of throat, in which instance suitable gage mechanism not shown may be employed to indicate the position of adjustment relative to vthe gage of the strand that is to be fed. It will be understood that this feed mecha' nism may be employed for various purposes as, for example, in feeding tufts of bristles, fiber, or metal for the purpose of manufacturing brushes. v i

Assuming the working parts to be in the position illustrated in Fi Vl, it will be observed that the picker is a vanced forwardly of the stop-pins to a position `in alinement between the fourth and fth strands of a layer which is held in the throat b the stoppins that are projecting across the throat passa e, it bein understood that the `strands are o uniform en th. The next movement of the eccentric 34 1n the direction indicated by the arrow will cause -thepicker to enter the throat between said fourth and fifth strands,l the point of the picker bein provmove downwardly upon its working stroke while in its en aged position with the strands and will t us cause the four strands forwardly thereof to be positively moved toward the receiver co-incident to their travel. The strands back of the picker will now follow by gravity and in their flow will be agitated by the tappet-shoe through the engagement thereof with the toothed portion of the vibrator wheel 23, which agitating movement will thus loosen the strands and cause them to roll downwardly in the throat in a single layer. The tappet-shoe then comes to rest and the picker starts on its downward course and in its travel comes in alinement with the now depressed stop-pins, as shown in Fig. 4, the position of the eccentric 32 will be such as to cause the tongue 45 to disengage itself from the tail of the pincarrying yoke, whereby said stop-pins will riseupward in alinement with the picker and upon opposite sidesthereof. The stoppins are now within the path of travel of the following strands and will thus prevent the same Yfrom further downward movement vinto the throat passage. Thereafter the picker will complete its downward or working stroke and will thus cause the four separate strands that are forward of the same to be delivered into the receiver 4. The forming plunger 44 will now move down and its crotched recessl will engage the nested group of strands and cause the same to be bent midway `of their length being forced by the plunger through the formin sleeve where the complete bendin operation is effected, it bein understood t at the forming sleeve throng out a lpartial downward movement of the plunger follows the same to a predetermined position at which point it is `Inomentarily held while the Aplunger passes throu h the formin sleeve and strips the now olded strands tierefrom. Prior to the strands being delivered to the receiver the wings `8 which form the end-walls of the hopper are vibrated a predetermined number of times, whereby the ends of said strands arebutted and alined, the configuration of the cam being such that when the vibration ceasesthe last throw of the wings is just one-half of the complete throw whereby the said strands are longitudinally alined centrally with relation to the plunger. This completes the operation of the feed mechanism and aftervthe working stroke of the picker has been completed the same will rise clear of the throat passage and return to the position shown in Fig. 1 in advance of the stop finger. In connection with the operation of the plunger it should be understood that the latter travels through the slot 36 formed in the picker finger, said slot being of sufficient length to permit reciprocation thereof without interference with the movement of the plunger.

For clearness of illustration I have shown the feed mechanism adjusted for separating the strands into groups of four, but of course it is understood that the number of strands travel through may be varied indenitely and that by-adjusting block 26 which carries the stop-pin yoke, said stopfpins may be moved longitudinally with relation to the throat passage whereby the distance between the extreme point at which the picker enters the passage and said stop-pins may be variedthis distance determining the quantity or number of strandsin a roup. t is also apparent,

ed inclined throat through which strands are adapted to travel transversely, means for agitating the strands during their initial the throat, cam-actuated wings for alining the strands longitudinally, a rotary eccentric, a strap mounted thereon, a finger extending from the strap, a pic-ker carried by the finger arranged to enter and travel longitudinally of the throat passage, an oscillatory guide-block lfor the linger, a spring-controlled pivoted Y yoke, stop-pins carried by the yoke Vadapted to be moved across said throat passage, and means associated with the picker finger for actuating the stop-pin yoke in opposition to its spring-control.

2. A feed mechanism of the described character comprising a frame, an inclined throat-plate carried' by the frame, a roofplatev disposed above the throat-plate, the roof-plate and throat-plate forming a restricted throat passage through which strands are adapted to travel, a hopper in communication with the throat passage, a spring-controlled tappet-shoe located in the throat passage, wings Vconstituting end-walls of the hopper, means for vibrating the wings whereby strands passing through passage are longitudinally centered, a strand receiving recess in the throat-plate, a reciprocative plunger alined with the recess and disposed centrally with relation to the length of they strands, a forming sleeve into which the plunger is adapted to enter, a bedplate carried by the frame, anadjustable block in connection with the bed-plate, a` spring-controlled yoke pivoted to the block, stop-pins carried by the yoke adapted to extending from the strap for engagement with the stop-pin ypke, a' finger extending from the strap, a guide for the forward end" the throatv have hereunto set my hand Losetas of the nger, and a picker depending from the finger ada ted to enter thethroat passage and trave longitudinally thereof.

3. A feed mechanism of the character described comprising a hopper havingua -restricted inclined discharge throat t ough which strands are adapted to travel' in a single layer, a receiver in connection with the throat, picker adapted to enter the throat at a predetermined point for feeding the strands in groups, a reciproca-tive stop-pin adapted to move into the throat at a fixed point for controlling the number of strands in the group fed, and means for causing the stop-pin to recede zo-incident to movement of the picker upon its feed stroke.

4. A feed mechanism of the described character, a hopper having a discharge a horizontally reciprocativethroat through wh' ch strands are adapted to travel, a vibrator adapted to engage the strands incidental to their-travel through the throat, reciprocative means for alining the strands longitudinally incidental to their travelthrough said throat, a reciprocative picker, actuating means for causing the picker to enter the throat at the start of its feed stroke and thereafter travel longitudr, nally of the throat to effect'l a feeding movement, a stop-pin movable in and out of the throat at a fixed point intermediate of the stroke of thepicker, and means for causing the stop-pin to recede from the throat coincident to start of the picker upon itsfeed movement.

5. A feed -mechanism of the described character comprising a hopper having a restr'ictedv inclined throat through which strands are adapted to travel transversely,

means for agitating the strands during their initial travel through the throat, cam-actuated wings forv alining the strands longitudinally, a rotary eccentric, a picker in operative relation with the eccentric, the picker being adapted to enter the throat and travel longitudinally thereof to effect a feeding operation, a guide-block for controlling vertical movement of the picker, a vertically reciprocativeV stop-pink 'adapted to move across said throat passage, and means for causing the stop-pin to recede from the throat' passage .coincident to a feed movement of the picker.

lin testimony that l claim the foregoing l at. Milwaukee ir 'the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin in the presence of two witnesses. travel across the throat passage, a revoluble eccentric, a strap mounted thereon, a tongue' ADOLPH R. WENS.

Witnesses Grao.v W. YOUNG, M. E. Downer. 

